Competition
EU Commission increases pressure on tech giants
The EU Commission is opening proceedings against Apple, Meta and Alphabet. photo
© Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa
Tech giants have huge user numbers in the EU and therefore a lot of influence. The EU Commission is looking closely at new rules and is targeting US companies.
The online giants would have to obtain users’ consent if they wanted to combine their personal data across various central platform services. The Commission is concerned that Meta is not sufficiently complying with this.
Severe penalties possible
The investigations fall under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is intended to combat the dominance of the so-called digital gatekeepers – the largest online platforms. For example, these must enable app developers to direct consumers to offers outside of their own app stores – free of charge. However, the Brussels authority has doubts that Alphabet and Apple are fully complying with this. They are accused of restricting developers’ options by imposing various fees.
The Commission also wants to check whether users of Apple devices have the opportunity to easily change their default settings and, for example, easily use a different browser or search engine. Users must also be able to delete unwanted apps without much effort.
Corporations that do not comply with the law can be fined up to 10 percent of their total global turnover. For repeat offenders, 20 percent is possible. The last option is to break up the property.
New EU law in force
Companies have had to comply with the DMA since the beginning of March. It is intended to ensure more competition in digital services and better opportunities for new rivals. The basic assumption is that some large platform operators have become so powerful that they can cement their market position. The DMA should break this down with rules for gatekeepers. The commission has so far identified 22 gatekeeper services from six companies. These include the US heavyweights Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta. The corporations have already announced or already implemented a number of changes to their business practices. But this is not enough for the Commission.
Obligation to retain documents
Apple, Alphabet and Meta will now be required to retain certain documents. “This will allow us to access relevant evidence in our ongoing and future investigations,” said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
Apple said it believes it is in compliance with the DMA. “Apple teams across the company have developed many new features and tools for developers to comply with the regulation. We have also introduced safeguards to reduce new risks to the privacy, quality and security of our users in the EU,” it said in a statement. They want to continue to work constructively with the Commission.
The European consumer protection organization Beuc sees the procedure as a sign that the Commission is serious about enforcing the law on digital markets. It is true that the big tech companies should expect serious enforcement measures.
The commission wants to complete the procedure that has now been opened within a year. Depending on the results of the investigation, the companies affected must take measures to address the authority’s concerns.
Digital space should become safer
The DMA is part of an EU effort to make the digital space safer for people. The focus is often on large US corporations. At the same time, the Commission is also trying to curb hate speech and hate speech with the Digital Services Act (DSA) and has already targeted X (formerly Twitter). Among other things, the platform was accused of not taking sufficient action against illegal content – for example on the Gaza war.
The authority also initiated proceedings against the Chinese company Tiktok. The focus is on youth protection and advertising transparency. The possible misconduct also involves the fact that the platform may not do enough to ensure that the app does not promote addictive behavior.